To clarify the options:

A)
St. Louis, Depaul, Marquette and Charlotte join the 5-6 Big East schools in either the Big East or a new conference.

B) Same new/Big East conference scenario but Xavier and Dayton are included

C) The 4 jhelp start a new league:
Maquette, Depaul, Charlotte, St. Louis, Xavier, Dayton, Creighton, Butler, Detroit, Western Kentucky

D)
Louisville and Cincinnati leave CUSA, but the CUSA4 remain regardless.

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Choices C and D are the only 2 that make any geographic sense, and while I believe there are exceptions to the geography rule (Miami in BE, or BC and Cuse should they go ACC), having half the conference on the east coast and the other half in the midwest requires too much travel too often.

Although it's likely they'll just stay in the CUSA, I went with C anyway because I think it would make more sense for the BB only schools. If Louisville and Cincy leave, there really isn't any benefit to the 4 teams staying in CUSA.

my first opinion is not included - that marquette and depaul join the big east - with xavier. notre dame stays. this creates a 9 team basketball conference. st louis and charlotte don't fit as well as the others.

there is no great benefit to the "12 team/2 division" format in basketball, but they might do that to cut down on travel. if they did, i could see this conference forming:

east - providence, seton hall, st. john's, gergetown, villanova, and one other catholic east coast team (there are 5 more in the a-10 that they could invite - no idea which fits best - st. joe's, st. bonaventure's, lasalle, duquense or fordham)

west - xavier, notre dame, marquette, depaul, st. louis, dayton

this choice you offered is interesting though;
4 start new with:WKU, Xav, Dayt, Creigh, But, Det,
- but i wouldn't include charlotte

new MCC: marquette, st. louis, depaul, western kentucky, xavier, dayton, creighton, detroit-mercy and butler (get evansville and loyola-chicago back too and it's a lot like the old MCC)

Obviously any apparent "C-USA 4" pact will limit the options for the schools involved, and traditional Notre Dame rivals DePaul and Marquette may have sacrificed more lucrative futures solely for the sake of more disparate rivals UNC-Charlotte and Saint Louis. While demographically similar to DePaul and Marquette, SLU does not have as great of a basketball tradition on a national level as the other two schools mentioned, and is always assumed to be the "odd man out" in realignment discussions. I find it incredulous that DePaul and Marquette agreed to such a pact (especially one that included UNC-Charlotte), but what's done is done (or at least that is what we are led to believe).

What about conference combining the C-USA 4 with some of the more southern/western elements of the A-10?

Dayton*
DePaul
Duquesne*
George Washington
LaSalle*
Marquette
UNC-Charlotte
Saint Joseph's
Saint Louis
Xavier

*Note that all of these schools play NON-SCHOLARSHIP football.

I have read that Marquette has denied making a pact with the 3 other non-football schools of the CUSA to stay together. Besides posts on here, the only place I have read of the pact was from Charlotte AD.

I've read so many articles lately that I don't remember where I read about the Marquette denial. If I read it again I'll post the link.

Here it is

http://espn.go.com/ncb/columns/katz_andy/1557259.html

Realistically, it is difficult to see the "C-USA 4" being the basis for a formation of any conference, unless of course an existing conference were raided of 6 members and the new conference would be able to obtain an automatic NCAA bid without a five-year waiting period. Other than the Horizon League, any prospective conference to be raided (e.g. A-10, CAA, MVC, Sun Belt) features a combination of football and non-football playing members, and this could further complicate the situation....

Schools not currently offering scholarship football:

A-10: Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, George Washington, LaSalle, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Joseph's, Xavier

CAA: Drexel, George Mason, UNC-Wilmington, Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth

MVC/Gateway: Bradley, Creighton, Drake, Evansville, Wichita State

Sun Belt: Arkansas-Little Rock, Denver, New Orleans, South Alabama

No offense to the Marquette faithful for the performance of this past year, but I am not sure that a conference built around the C-USA 4 could guarantee itself that an at-large NCAA bid would be available every year during the five-year waiting period. The only conferences that could feasibly be raided of a 6-team contingent (that did not offer scholarship football) are the A-10 and the Horizon League. I don't see A-10 programs like George Washington and Saint Joseph's sacrificing what they have now for a conference with a "midwestern" orientation. The quality of play in the Horizon League notwithstanding, 3 of its 9 members are in existing C-USA 4 markets (e.g. Illinois-Chicago, Loyola, Wisconsin-Milwaukee). 6 members could be stripped from the Horizon League without creating a direct market overlap (Butler, Cleveland State, Detroit, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wright State, Youngstown State), but Youngstown State plays scholarship football, and the exclusion of the 3 programs would negate some relatively quality basketball programs (UIC, UWM).

Is the "C-USA 4 Pact" merely rhetorical bluster emanating from Charlotte and possibly Saint Louis? Would a proposed "all-Catholic conference" feature a lone, public (and Southern) school? It just doesn't appear to be adding up...Charlotte is too geographically isolated from the other three to make me think such an agreement actually exists.